Hollywood Tacos with Chorizo Fried Rice

 

Do you ever watch the Food Network and just have to have what you see on the screen!? I do, just about every other day. I saw these on Eat Street. They're called Hollywood Tacos. I obviously didn't make them "exactly" how I saw them, because they don't give you full blown recipes, but I took the idea and ran with it. This was my very first time, ever, using curry. I loved it though.
Here's how you make them:
Cut up some boneless skinless chicken thighs, sautee them with curry powder and coconut milk. Serve the chicken in corn tortillas and top them with cabbage, cilantro, and sour cream. Add some Sriracha sauce for a little heat. Dig in!
I made some chorizo fried rice to go with the tacos. Keep in mind, I was feeding 8 people, so you may want to halve everything I did.
For the Chorizo fried rice, which was to die for, you want cooked white rice (day old rice works best). I cooked 4 cups of rice in my cooker, resulting in about 8 cups once done. First, cook up some chorizo ( I used 1 tube of chorizo) in a big skillet, pork or beef, you pick. Once the chorizo is cooked through, add the rice to the skillet, fold in with the chorizo. Add about half of a drained can of pineapple tidbits. You be the judge on how much pineapple you want in your rice. The chorizo makes this a spicy side, but the pineapple compliments it so well. I didn't measure anything out for this meal, I was just winging everything. Those make for the best dinners though.

 

Rice Krispie Treats, with sprinkles of course!

When you live with a 2 year old, just about everything you do is topped with sprinkles. I don't mind though. If topping broccoli with sprinkles means my daughter will eat, then sprinkles it is! Just like her doctor said to me once, "hey, if milk means chocolate milk, then give it to her. Chocolate milk is better than no milk". I've created a monster.

Anyhoo, this was (believe it or not) my first time making Rice Krispie treats. I watched the Ree, from The Pioneer Woman, make them on tv a few Saturdays back. I've been craving them ever since. And what a great way to use Nila's latest bottle of Halloween sprinkles she just picked out last grocery run.

You Need:
6 cups Rice Krispie cereal
4 tbsp butter, plus some to grease your dish
a 16 oz. bag of small marshmallows
1/4 tsp. salt
sprinkles

Grease a 13x9 baking dish, set aside.
Over medium heat, melt your butter in a big pot. Add approx 10 oz of the marshmallows, or a little over half the bag.
Stir until marshmallows are melted. Turn heat off. Add the cereal and gently fold into the marshmallow mix. Once it's all blended well, add the rest of the marshmallows and gently fold those in. This creates big clouds of marshmallows throughout :) Transfer to your 13x9 dish and smooth out. Top with sprinkles. Let cool completely before cutting.
Enjoy!

Meat-atarian Sub

Looking for something to whip up during a game? This sub is quickly put together, and a real crowd pleaser. My friend Hillary passed along the recipe, she's been making this for her family for a while. I tried it a few nights ago and it's absolutely delicious.

You will need:
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup grated parmesan
(I used an Italian cheese mix- Mozz, Parm, Asiago, Provolone)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup mayo
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 loaf french bread, halved lengthwise
1 lb. sliced deli ham
8-10 slices of cooked bacon
4 oz. sliced pepperoni
1/2 cup pizza sauce

Combine the first eight ingredients in a small bowl. Spread over cut sides of bread. Layer with Ham, Bacon, Pepperoni, and pizza sauce. Replace top.
Wrap sub in foil and place on a large baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 25-30 min, or until heated through. Cut into slices.
Enjoy!
p.s., I had pics of the "finished" sub, but they got lost before I could upload them. But, you get the idea...

 

Black Bean Fritters with Cilantro Cream Sauce

We've decided we need to eat more vegetarian dishes, which means I need to learn some! This is another recipe I found on Pinterest (gotta love Pinterest right!?) that I've tweaked just a little to my liking. These were phenominal! I'm sure being "fritters", they are meant more as an appetizer or side dish, but I just made them a little bigger, served them with spanish rice, and called it dinner! That was the longest sentence ever. Anyway, try them!

You will need:
2 cans of black beans, drained

1 large yellow pepper, remove seed, chop into small pieces

1 small white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large tomato, chopped into small pieces
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 cup all purpose unbleached flour
2 eggs, room temperature
salt and black pepper
corn oil, for frying

Combine everything together in a big bowl. ( I used my hands so that I wouldn't mash the beans up too much) Season with salt and pepper. Add more flour if it's not binding.

 

 

 

Add 3 tbsp oil to a skillet and heat over a med-high flame. Once the oil is hot, form fritters with a big spoon and carefully put them into the oil.

 

Fry for about 3 min per side, or until golden brown.

Set them on a paper towel-lined plate. Season with salt again.



For the sauce you need:
1/2 cup sour cream
1 small can of diced green chillies
1 garic clove, minced
2 tbsp chopped cilanto
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper

Blend all ingredients together and serve with fritters.
Enjoy!

 

 

My Veggie Lasagna

My Veggie Lasagna

 

I came up with this dish a few years ago. I'm sure that I was just using up left over veggies I had in the fridge at the time, but the ingredients I used were just perfect. I make it often and haven't changed a thing about it. You could definitely switch up the choice of veggies though. Spinach and/or tomato would probably be a delicious variation.

 

 

You will need:

12 lasagna noodles (always prepare a couple extra in case any of them break while handling)

15 oz container of ricotta cheese

1 cup cottage cheese

1 jar of alfredo sauce (I use Bertolli)

1 egg

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp. italian seasoning, plus a little dash later

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

salt and pepper

2 cups chopped fresh broccoli 

2 cups chopped fresh cauliflower

1 whole zucchini, chopped

1/2 large white onion, chopped

2 carrots, shredded

 

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare the lasagna noodles by boiling them just until they're almost done, but not quite. They are easier to handle if they're a little firm still. They will have plenty of time to finish cooking in the oven.

 

Spoon a little of the alfredo sauce into the botto of a 13 x 9 baking dish so that your noodles don't stick later.



Once all your veggies are chopped, boil the broccoli and cauliflower for about 3 min, just to soften them a bit.

In a big bowl, combine the ricotta, cottage cheese, alfredo, egg, 1 tbsp. italian seasoning, garlic, salt, pepper, onion, and carrot.

Drain the broccoli and cauliflower and add them to a big bowl with the remaining ingredients. Gently fold together.

Layer 3 of the noodles in the pan.

Spoon 1/3 of the veggie mixture over the noodes.

Then toss on 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese.

Repeat these steps 2 more times. You want to end with noodles, and cheese on top of them. So it should go from bottom up, noodles, sauce, cheese. Noodles, sauce, cheese, Noodles, sauce, cheese, then noodles, and finally cheese.

Sprinkle with a dash more of italian seasoning and salt and pepper.
Bake uncovered for 40-45 min. Once finished baking, let it cool for about 15 min before cutting into it.
Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Restaurant Chips & Salsa

I'm not a fan of jarred salsa's from the grocery store. I am a fan of the good stuff, the salsa they serve at Mexican restaurants. This is a Pioneer Woman recipe, and she really nailed it! We've been eating it for days now and I'm already thinking of making another batch, it's so good!

What you need for homemade chips:

corn tortillas, you get 6 chips out of each, so you figure out how many you want to fry up

corn oil

For the salsa:

1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice
2 cans (10 Ounce) Rotel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
1/4 cup Chopped Onion
1 clove Garlic, Minced
1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin
1/4 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 cup Cilantro (more To Taste!)
1/2 whole Lime, the juice

This makes a ton! Use either a 12 cup food processor, or make in batches.

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor. Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you'd like.
Refridgerate salsa for an hour before serving.

When you're ready to serve the salsa, heat corn oil in a skillet. You want about 3/4 inches of oil in the pan. Heat oil to 350. Cut your corn tortillas (like cutting a pizza) into 6 pieces. Fry the chips, in batches, for just about a min.

Toss them on a plate covered with a paper towel to soak up some of the oil. Salt while hot. Serve with salsa.
Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie-stuffed Oreos

OMG. See that picture? That really happened in my kitchen today.

I saw these floating around on Pinterest one day. Their picture made my sweet tooth ache just at a glance. They taste just as ridiculously good as they look.

Super easy to make, and my little Toots loved helping with them :)

For the chocolate chip cookies you need:

1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips ( I used 1 cup semi sweet, and 1/2 cup white cause that's what I had)

32 Double Stuff Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together the butter and sugars, add egg and vanilla extract. Stir in flour, salt, baking soda and chips.

Line a cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper. Seperate the oreo cookies and line up the halves without the white frosting, on the cookie sheet..





Put small scoops of cookie dough onto each of these ...

Bake them for 8-10 minutes. When they come out, while they are hot, place the other halves of the oreos on top..

Mmmmmmm, the frosting begins to melt just a little..

Let cool for 10 minutes before digging in..

Enjoy!